Leclerc lifts lid on Ferrari hope despite Mercedes edge in Chinese GP Sprint

Speaking to F1 TV about how his Sprint qualifying session unfolded, Leclerc admitted to frustration after losing significant lap time on the back straight. The Monegasque, however, explained that both he and the Ferrari team will analyse the data to understand where time was lost compared to the front-runners.

“Very frustrating session. I mean first the toggle, then unfortunately when I had a good lap I lost half a second on the back straight for whatever reason on the second lap in SQ3, so we will analyse that and try to understand what has gone wrong,” Leclerc explained.

Pressed further about his outlook for the remainder of the weekend, Leclerc appeared optimistic, detailing his belief that the Ferrari team can rival the front-running Mercedes on race pace.

“It doesn't really change the picture from where we are. I think in the race, we should be relatively a bit stronger than where we were now in qualifying. However, Mercedes seems to still be a step ahead. In qualifying, for some reason, the Mercedes power unit finds a lot of lap time,” he added.

“We don't quite find that amount of lap time just yet in qualifying, but in the race we are closer, so I'm hopeful we can come back tomorrow,” he concluded.

Leclerc clocked a lap time quick enough for sixth place – 1:32.528, just over a second slower than the pole lap time set by George Russell.

Earlier, Leclerc detailed that he expects the race start advantage of the Ferrari outfit to dwindle as other teams continue to come to grips with the current regulations.

The Monegasque, alongside teammate Lewis Hamilton, recorded the most position gains off the start line last time out at the Australian Grand Prix.

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